Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerA ruling by a state appellate court today found N.J. municipalities can charge apartment residents for sewer usage.

TRENTON — Towns can impose fees on the owners of apartment buildings to finance their municipal sewer systems, an appellate court ruled Thursday.

The question arose after three apartment complexes sued New Providence for imposing an annual $100 fee per unit in 2009, according to the decision handed down by the three-judge appellate panel.

A trial court had ruled in favor of New Providence, and the appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision.

"It was not patently unreasonable for the New Providence governing body to conclude that ... owners of single-family residences pay substantially more for sewer service through real estate taxes than owners of apartments," the court wrote.

Borough officials found the average homeowner paid $2,400 in municipal taxes, $240 of which went to sewer service. The average owner of a garden apartment paid $350 in taxes per unit, with $35 of that going toward sewer service.

The appellate panel found it permissible to leverage a fee "to reduce the disparity between these classes of property owners’ contributions to the cost of sewer service."

State law permits user fees — in addition to tax revenue — to pay for sewer systems, the court said in dismissing the apartment owners’ contention that a town could also assess a fee to pay for road maintenance, schools or police.

The apartment complexes also argued the sewer fees violated equal protection in the United States and New Jersey constitutions because home-owners were not charged the same fee as apartment owners, but the court found the fees constitutional.

"We perceive nothing irrational in the imposition of the user fee solely upon owners of the apartments," the court wrote.